


Movie Night at the Hartley's

by intrepidem



Series: The Chronicles of Richie and Glasses [1]
Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Scene, Angst, Chris being really cute, Chris' family (mentioned), Deleted Scene, Dumb BFFS, Fluff, Gen, Mental Health Issues, They're both silly in this, Unabashed Movie References, Unabashed projection of opinions onto fictional characters, chris has three brothers, frienship, movies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 14:34:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11807925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/intrepidem/pseuds/intrepidem
Summary: Join me today in exploring Josh's favorite movies, Chris' three big brothers, food, and feelings because I love projecting my opinions and ideas onto these video game characters!This is actually just an alternate scene from my fic 'Don't Lose Your Head In Technocity.' I'd decided to go with my other version and posted it a while back. I just got the urge to finish this version and decided to post it because why let it go to waste?Read and Review, would you? That would be killer!





	Movie Night at the Hartley's

**Author's Note:**

> Chris is the youngest of four boys cause I felt like it but their only mentioned in passing. Also, this is very short and insignificant, but I really liked it for some reason so here we are. 
> 
> I don't know if I'll leave this as is, keep writing in this universe (maybe I'll write more about the Hartley family), or add more scraps along the way, but, for now, here you go!
> 
> Enjoy!

"You _didn't_ wait for me?"

Josh was practically shrieking in Chris' face, his eyes wide and accusatory like he'd just murdered a puppy in front of him. This wasn't gonna be a great experience for the blonde, if the way Josh was looking at him was any tell, not to mention the rigid quality of his voice and the punch he threw him in the arm. Josh's eyes bore into him expectantly.

Chris had been anticipating his best friends' reaction to this revelation for quite a while now, the anxiety curling in his gut steadily as the day approached. He couldn't decide if it was going better or worse than he had pictured.

"How _could you,_ Chris?"

The expression on Chris' face resembled that of the kid who got caught stealing from the cookie jar: guilty and sheepish. He stumbled on his words, trying to find the ones that would best mend the situation. Needless to say, he was coming up dry.

"How could you betray me like that?" Josh continued, incredulous and indignant and not giving Chris a chance to verbally defend himself.

Chris had to give it to him, Josh could be very stubborn when he wanted to be, as well as relentless in the best and worst ways. The best plan of action was just to surrender to the onslaught of drama Josh would throw at you when he's spited, otherwise you were going to get lost in the shuffle.

The brunet stuck a hand to his chest, imitating someone who has been lethally wounded in battle, before collapsing against the couch adjacent to his best friend and now mortal foe. The popcorn bowl in Josh's lap almost spilled onto the ground from his squirming, but Chris grabbed and righted it before it could make a mess all over his mom's carpet.

"I thought we were friends!" Josh cried out, voice strained and his hand reaching out to him and drooping in faux-desolation.

  
"I know, dude, I'm sorry—" Chris attempted to pacify his overtly and comically distraught friend, who was now sprawled across the cushions with his hands above his head, cursing at the sky. He actually felt really bad, despite the air of exaggeration in the room. In spite of that, he picks up the line of comedy Josh was throwing at him like a life line, a little something to hold onto. Humor had always been sort of second nature to Chris, his age-old back up plan, his defense mechanism stemming from how he wasn't always the coolest kid in high school. The tone of Chris' voice shifted suddenly to something more grave, taking on the character of someone confessing in an addicts anonymous meeting: "I just couldn't wait another second. I told myself I was just gonna unwrap the case, then I took a peek inside. One thing led to another... I lost control of myself."

Of course, he knew he should have waited for Josh; this was something that they had been planning and counting down for months, something they had sworn on. Of course, he knew Josh would be really upset if he went behind his back and did the thing anyway. Of course, he knew he was a shitty best friend for doing what he did even before he did it. Of course, he fucked those things into the ground as soon as he got his hands on his vice. Now he had to make up for it ten-fold. And of course, he had a plan, but for now, he just played along.

Josh cried out in distress like a faint woman in a movie from the 40s, flailing dramatically. He covered his face with his hands. He was very committed to his performance, clearly trying to stretch it out as much as long as Chris is obliged to stretch it with him. The two of them weren't the best at dealing with problems dead-on, so skirting around the subject with jokes and characters was the preferred method of communication and problem solving.

Josh peaked through his cracked fingers over his eyes, and watched as Chris bowed his head in shame.

"I am weak, I admit it."

Josh straightened suddenly, looking his friend dead in the eye and grabbing at the game case on the coffee table with a vicious intent. He held it up next to his face, hammering the guilt that Chris should be feeling straight home. His eyes got suddenly serious, his face sobering a little from the over-baked tragedy mask look-alike to something a little more somber.

"You couldn't wait one more week for me to get back from vacation to play _Bioshock Infinite_ that you promised, nay, vowed to me that we would play together when it came out?"

"Bro, I know I fucked up," Chris admitted, adjusting his glasses.

Josh crossed his arms, and now he was sort of pouting beside him. Josh did this a lot whenever he felt like he wasn't as important to Chris as Chris was to him. Of course, that wasn't true, but Josh's mind was very impressionable when it was convenient (or, in this case, inconvenient) for it to be. This fact was not lost on Chris. There had been more than a few instances where Josh had felt insecure about his place in Chris' life. They had been best friends for years, but ever since Josh had starting taking medication and going to therapy, things had changed. Although, after all those years, it wasn't as if Chris wasn't used to rolling with the punches. He could handle it.

"Hey," Chris nudged him lightly, but Josh just shrunk into himself further, tightening his crossed arms. Chris made an exaggeratedly deep sigh, deflating. This was the time the real apologizing started. Chris turned to Josh with a smirk. "I'll make it up to you, alright?"

Josh's eyes had been on the floor, but his brows raised at the mention of bribery. It was obvious his interest was peaked. Chris smiled. He had an in.

"Oh?" Josh responded. "What did you have in mind?"

In the past, there have been a few surefire ways to make Josh feel better when he was down. The blonde had mentally recorded them for his emergency kit whenever Josh was having a bad day or Chris did something stupid. The list included ordering chicken-and-pineapple pizza, having a Friday the 13th marathon, giving him control the Netflix queue, or letting him take Captain Falcon in smash bros. However, today, Chris had a different approach. He reached for his bag underneath the coffee table as Josh watched him in poorly concealed anticipation.

"Well," Chris began by means of explanation, "I ordered some DVDs, 'cause I figured I owed you an opportunity to make me sit through shit you like after last month . . ."

"Oh, you mean after disgracing my eyes with the prequels?"

There was a hint of a laugh in Josh's voice. He was well-aware the kind of reaction he would get from Chris after a comment like this. On cue, Chris stopped in his tracks, deadpanning and turning his focus from the surprise he planned to Josh's shit-eating grin.

  
"Being a cinephile, I do expect more patience on your part regarding the Star Wars series."

Chris' point wasn't entirely invalid. Josh was an absurdly seasoned movie buff, it's just that Sci-fi wasn't really his cup of tea. Now, for Chris, on the other hand, it totally was his cup of tea. Movies that had space shit pretty much made up Chris' life blood, and had ever since he was little. The two have butt heads on many occasion about what types of movies are the best, most lately from Chris being generally alright with the production quality of The Phantom Menace and Josh wanting to hurl.

"Well, I guess it's not as bad as Star Trek . . ."

Chris promptly dropped his bag, which landed with a clutter back on the floor where he'd gotten it. Josh giggled. Chris was not laughing, in fact, he was quite stone-cold.

"How dare you speak such blasphemy in my—"

"Holy shit, dude, I'm fucking with you," Josh chuckled, laughing loudly in spite of Chris' sort of seriousness. He calmed down a little from the laughing fit and then, a little impatiently, he added: "Show me what you got!"

"Alright, alright," Chris conceded, and finally he unsheathed a DVDs from his bag. He was doing it one by one, and doing it dramatically, sound effects and all. He brought the first one out.

"Boom! _The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari_."

Josh's eyes lit up. "Aw, shit, Cochise! This movie's awesome." He rattled excitedly as he snatched the DVD case to check out the back."Their set design is bananas and the mise en scene in this is the coolest!"

"Yes, I have heard." Chris said with a tight smile. He had heard. Many times, in fact. But it still made him happy to see Josh genuinely excited and enthusiastic about something.

"Wow . . . a silent film." Josh commented off-hand while admiring the case design. His lips pulled into a rueful grin and he met eyes with Chris. "You must feel really bad." And then he was laughing again at the blonde's expense. Chris smiles humbly, but cracks up a little on his own when Josh's laughs turn maniacal and cartoonish.

"Yeah, what can I say?" Chris sighed, acting disgustingly confident in himself and lifting his shoulders. "I'm a really great friend after I get done being a shitty friend."

"Ain't that the truth?" Josh mutters. "But don't I remember you telling me that this movie is cursed as shit as well as emotionally and psychologically scarring?"

"I did and it is, that shit is literally the stuff of nightmares." Chris nods in agreement. "But I know it's one of your favorites, so I got it for you."

Josh smiled, this time at the expense of no one. "Thanks, bro."

"But wait, there's more!" Chris interjected, sticking his pointed finger out, his voice loud and obnoxious like he came straight out of an infomercial on late night TV that he watched too much of. He unveiled the second DVD.

" _Citizen Kane_?" Josh arched an eyebrow, and stroked his chin exaggeratedly. "I'm sensing a theme."

"Yeah, so far they're all pretentious old movies that people pretend to like to seem cool _I mean_ really good old movies that aren't pretentious or boring at all what are you talking about . . .?" Chris rambled, his sentence shifting mid way through after Josh shot him an icy look.

"Good point, Christopher. I'm glad to see that I'm so influential in the shaping of your movie pallet. Very nice choices so far . . ." Josh compliments, voice and posture uppity before muttering at the end, "for a novice."

Chris shot his pointy finger in his face, mostly to deter the conversation away from Josh's sass.

"And last, but certainly not least . . ." Chris bellowed, in his best announcer voice, a low timbre and an obnoxious inflection that made Josh roll his eyes. He shoved his hands into the bag, grabbed, and then started screaming and trying to pull it out, " _Help,_ bro! . . . Oh, god! . . . Eh?"

Josh's expression was clearly unamused.

"Nothing? Fine, whatever―uh, dun, dun, _dun-dun_!"

Chris pulled out the dvd, displaying it with a hand caressing the air underneath like he was in an informercial. A wide, dumb grin immediately split Josh's face once he read the title, rocking forward with a surprised laugh.

Chris seemed proud in his final choice. Josh thought he had another thing coming, and once he got control of his laughter he commented.

"Motherfucking _Space Jam_ , are you for real?"

"It's the family film of the century." Chris defended, clutching the dvd to his chest protectively.

"It has, like, a 37% or something on Rotten Tomatoes."

"Bah! Everyone's a critic!"

"Quite literally, yeah." Josh agreed. Then he tsked, looking the other boy up and down and then shaking his head. "You were doing so well, too."

"Hey," Chris asserted. "I'll have you know that Space Jam is the best NBA Looney Toons Crossover Science Fiction/Fantasy film to date."

Josh raised his brows, assessing. "Yeah, they'd definitely win if that was an Oscar category."

Chris looked at his friend smugly. Just then, the oven timer went off, letting Chris know that the jalapeño poppers were done. Chris' mom was at work, and while Mrs. Hartley usually made a mad dash to the kitchen whenever a timer went off for fear of her boys burning the house down, she had to trust them while her kids were home for summer break and had to fend for themselves.

"Sweet, the poppers." Chris jumped up from his seat, ever the most responsible son despite being the youngest of four.

He's the one that does a lot of the cooking for Will and Doug now that they're home from college and mom is at the office most days. Their mom trusts him the most not to let anything catch on fire. Dougie and Will have been known to forget things that lead to minor emergencies, like the time they were babysitting they're baby brother on a date night when dad and mom were still together, and Chris' ramen turned into ramen brûlée. The eldest, Mike, lives in South Beach and works as a MRI Tech, only visiting on major holidays but their mom still doesn't let him touch the stove when she's making Christmas dinner, too afraid of the time the boys put a toddler Chris into the oven when they were playing hide and seek.

"Be right back." Chris promised, and he fulfilled that promise because a few minutes later he was back with a old plastic pokemon-themed plate full of the fried treats. "Bon appetit."

"Not right now, man." Josh declined the plate held in front of him. Chris faltered and put in down with a shrug. "Thanks though."

"Thought you said you haven't eaten today." Chris said lightly, taking a seat back on the couch,

"Yeah. Um, I don't know, Not really that hungry." Josh shrugged, looking down at his hands and fiddling with a bracelet that Han gave him last year for his birthday.

"Meds?" Chris asked, voice sounding nonchalant and completely normal but what he said made Josh stiffen.

All of the sudden, there was a stillness that could be felt like a change in the air, palpable and awkward. Josh knew it was his responsibility to break the stillness, and not to make it worse by staying silent like he did, always did when it came to this.

"Yeah," he eventually replied, voice coming out a little raspy so he coughed into his sleeve. "Maybe. I don't know. Hard to keep track."

"What do you mean?" Chris said, completely blatant and at full volume like it wasn't kind of a weird subject to have a conversation about in the middle of the Hartley family's living room, where Chris' older brothers could come bounding down the stairs at any minute. Chris was always doing that, always asking questions and making sure Josh was okay and healthy, and that he was being kept in check. It was embarrassing as hell, made him feel like he wasn't responsible enough to take care of his own self. Chris didn't seem to notice it bothered him, or maybe just didn't care because he was always concerned and he just kept on asking questions. "Well, you've been taking them, right, bro?"

Josh bristled at that a little, crossing his arms but otherwise he was quiet and Chris was right on him immediately.

"Josh, you know you have to―"

"I've been taking my meds just like I'm supposed to." Josh cut him off, testy. He looked at him with a fire, but it dwindled when he caught a glimpse of Chris' face which seemed surprised at the comeback. Josh tells himself he wasn't sulking, but he quieted up significantly, dropping his eyes. "You don't have to baby me, Chris."

And at that Josh paused, biting his lip. There was that stillness again. The weird tension that settled whenever anything about Josh's mental health came up. Josh hated talking about it, even acknowledging it at all, and Josh knew that Chris knew that about him. It was uncomfortable, but Chris was always so stupidly concerned and perceptive, like he was his babysitter or something. He could guess that was on Chris's mind as well, and confirm it by looking at him in the eyes. He saw his worry swimming in them as they darted across Josh's face, as they searched for some kind of tell, something that Chris could use against him the next time anything serious like this came up. God, that was annoying. It was as if Josh was some kind of powder keg about to explode, and Chris' job was to figure out when, and prevent it. Josh hated it when he looked at him like that, so he refused to give him anything to go of off. He smiled casually, clearing all negative thoughts from displaying on his face, making sure his features were smoothed out and relaxed. He picked one of the small fried treats from their snack plate, then outstretched it in front of Chris's stupidly concerned face. "Have a popper, dude. You made 'em."

Chris took the offering from his hand with a gracious tilt to his brow and an unmistakably tight smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Even though I don't expect anything, reviews would be the actual best. Like, i love hearing from you guys. Regardless, thanks for reading my insignificant trash!!! :D


End file.
